Summer Schedule, Rain or Shine

Okay, now that Leia Rose is out of school, it was time to secure our basic day-to-day summer schedule. On sunny days, it'll go like this: Leia Rose is allowed to watch shows via Tivo until Annie and Mamma wake up (which usually between 9-10). [This being said, I'm going to go ahead and admit that we are not a "morning" family. There have been days that Annie has woken up at 11, for goodness sake!!! And Mamma certainly won't make the effort unless an early wakeup is really needed, . . . this is despite the fact that I think summer mornings are the most beautiful time of the day.] Anyway, after Mamma & Annie wake up, all three of us go on a bike ride with the bobike mini & the pathfinder. When we get back, it's breakfast time and get-ready time. Then we will go do our activity for the day: sprinkler at home? water slide? pool? playdate? etc. etc. Usually around 2 or 3 we need to be home for Annie's nap, though. And during Annie's nap is Leia's favorite: Learning is Fun Time!!! (To my surprise, she has been asking and asking about this since school got out. Does this kid like education, or what!?!) Learning is Fun Time involves first reading a "Bob Book" from the first reading set, doing an activity of my choice, and then one of Leia's (which is usually art related). When Annie wakes up, it's dinner time. After dinner, we do "Bible" and then take a family bikeride together before bath and bed.

However, today was a rainy day, . . . so we have to adjust the schedule on those days:
Instead of going on an immediate bikeride after wakeup, we eat breakfast and then watch the two little rainy day clips on the computer: "It's a Rainy Day" from Sesame Street and "Singin' In the Rain" from the movie of the same name.
And then we like to do lots of action songs from the list that I've made on the computer. I turn the volume up really loud, we go into the living room (where there are less toy distractions), and we do each song as they come up. The favorites? Pop-pop-pop the bubbles and, of course, Shakey Egg. ; )
Leia had a great idea after hearing the song "Peanut Butter and Jelly." She suggested that we all make our own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Well, it was a little early for lunch, but we did it anyway. What a fun project! And look at Annie's face! This is proof that she now is a lot less happy with slimy things, . . . especially slimy/sticky things that can get on her hands! ; )

When Annie went down for nap, we did our usual Learning is Fun Time. Today we worked on the number eight, which Leia was a bit upset about not doing correctly in school. I called this activity "rainbow eights" because we also learned the order in the colors of the rainbow. We had a great time with this because even though, by the end, Leia Rose made 9 out of 10 eights correctly, . . . she'd always make one that either looked like a backwards three or a dollar sign. So I would say, "good, . . . good, . . . good, . . . BAD!" and she would laugh and laugh! So glad we made this into fun instead of frustration! : ) Then I did my best to teach her the order of colors. Gosh, I had a hard time. I just don't know how to teach that to little kids. I bet I should have made up a song or something. I kept trying to use logic (i.e. look how orange/green/purple are in between the primary colors that create them). Hmmmm, not easy for a five-year-old to grasp. I ended up having her memorize the list, which won't last a day, I'm sure. Ha! ; )

Later, we read lots of "long" books that I usually don't have time to read Leia Rose at bedtime. One of those favorites is Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day" in which the "Wood and How We Use It" story sparked a very interesting story about Papa planting a tree, . . . but that's such a special story that I'll save it for a future post all its own . . .